Two reasons Illinois should support the Keystone Pipeline

Tom Wolf is executive director of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce's Energy Council.

For the past several years, a debate has occurred about the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline — a project that would transport more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day from Alberta, Canada, (and North Dakota) through the Plains states to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Since the proposed pipeline doesn't come close to Illinois, should we care about the outcome? The reasons why the answer to that question is a resounding “yes” can be summed up by two words that begin with the letter “e” – economics and experience.

On the economic front, Illinois already is closely tied to Alberta oil because much of it is refined in Joliet, Lockport, two downstate locations and Whiting, Ind. In a recent trip to Chicago, the premier of Alberta said that her province does more trade with Illinois than any other U.S. state (more than $21 billion annually). Alberta does eight times more trade with Illinois than China. That trade includes oil and other products coming south but also jobs, equipment and expertise from Illinois going north.

The Canadian Energy Research Institute estimates that the increase in oil production that the Keystone pipeline could carry would mean 13,000 more jobs in Illinois by 2020. This doesn't even include the number of Illinois construction workers who would be going west to help build the pipeline.

Why would Illinois union workers help build the pipeline? The answer to that brings us to our second “e” word – experience. More than 1.5 million barrels of oil course through Illinois via underground pipelines every day, providing a stable, reliable supply of crude oil from United States' No. 1 trading partner, Canada. Because of this infrastructure, Illinois construction workers are highly skilled in pipeline construction and maintenance.

WHAT ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT?

Opponents of Keystone will say I'm ignoring another concept that begins with the letter “e,” the environment. But I am not. Unlike many countries from which we get oil, Canada actually cares about its environment. The Canadian people are deeply committed to constant improvement and husbandry of the nation's resources. Plus pipelines are the most efficient and safest way to transport oil to refineries.

America should continue to find ways to use less oil and transition to new technologies. However, we must deal with the reality that our economy will need oil for the foreseeable future and we are much better off using oil that comes from North America than overseas. Increased access to Canadian oil is the right energy policy, improves national security and increases economic opportunity right here in Illinois.